The Vancouver Business Thread

[whatnext]

Buried in a Bloomberg article about the oil market today:

A Panicked Race for Barrels Is Gripping the Global Oil Market
By Yongchang Chin, Lucia Kassai, Bill Lehane, and Grant Smith
April 11, 2026

… Japanese refiners have led a charge to buy up oil from the US, which is exporting at record levels. A buying spree by Chinese refiners has lifted oil shipments from Vancouver in Canada to a record high this month And Indian refiners have been ramping up purchases oil from Venezuela. In the first week of April, tankers have loaded almost 6 million barrels for the South Asian country, which is double the volumes seen over the same period of March.…(bold mine)

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/...-panicked-race-for-barrels?sref=x4rjnz06

[jollyburger]

District of North Vancouver rejects Chemtrade chlorine proposal

District of North Vancouver council has voted to stop a major waterfront industrial business from producing liquid chlorine at its site.

Chemtrade and its predecessors have been making the chemical at the Amherst Avenue plant in Maplewood since 1957.

Under their lease with the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority though, Chemtrade is required to stop producing, storing and transporting liquid chlorine on port land by July 2030. The company intended to move those activities onto a separate portion of the property that is under the jurisdiction of the District of North Vancouver’s zoning bylaw, which prohibits the manufacture of hazardous substances.

A split council voted 4-3 Monday to deny that request.

https://www.nsnews.com/local-news/distri...cts-chemtrade-chlorine-proposal-12138406

[GenWhy?]

"Pope noted that chemical plants are now seen as targets in war and added that the Maplewood area faces risk from earthquakes and other unpredictable events. She said senior levels of government should be looking to transition chlorine supply operations of the plant “to a safe, more appropriate location, in a remote area – a federal or provincial site, away from homes, schools and families.”

As well as:

"It’s not clear what the denial will mean for the company or the Maplewood industrial property. The plant supplies about 70 per cent of chlorine used for water purification in Western Canada. It also ships the product to the United States."

[jollyburger]

Originally Posted by GenWhy?

"Pope noted that chemical plants are now seen as targets in war and added that the Maplewood area faces risk from earthquakes and other unpredictable events. She said senior levels of government should be looking to transition chlorine supply operations of the plant “to a safe, more appropriate location, in a remote area – a federal or provincial site, away from homes, schools and families.”

As well as:

"It’s not clear what the denial will mean for the company or the Maplewood industrial property. The plant supplies about 70 per cent of chlorine used for water purification in Western Canada. It also ships the product to the United States."

They need a constant shipment of salt by barge (currently from Baja, Mexico) and the conversion process into chlorine requires a lot of electricity.

[GenWhy?]

Originally Posted by jollyburger

They need a constant shipment of salt by barge (currently from Baja, Mexico) and the conversion process into chlorine requires a lot of electricity.

So they'll likely relocate out of Canada and export back to us. Win win

[officedweller]

https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/quote/CHE-UN.TO/

[kikin]

Originally Posted by GenWhy?

So they'll likely relocate out of Canada and export back to us. Win win

I read somewhere that the plant existed before the nearby area was rezoned for residential, now they want to get rid of the plant due to proximity to residential.... is this true?

[jollyburger]

They should just close it and tell them to figure out an alternate supply.

Seems like the only option even if it is brought in through the US (if you don't switch to an alternative production method) is through rail cars.

[officedweller]

Info on the chlorine issue here:
https://www.askchemtrade.ca/clean-drinking-water

[madog222]

Originally Posted by kikin

I read somewhere that the plant existed before the nearby area was rezoned for residential, now they want to get rid of the plant due to proximity to residential.... is this true?

There has been residential in the area well before the current plant was built.

[jollyburger]

The chlorine plant was built in 1957.

This is what the area looked like in 1946

https://vintageairphotos.com/bo-46-129/

1956 (pretty far away so not much detail)

https://vintageairphotos.com/bo-56-395/

They used to have 1600 tonnes of liquid chlorine stored on site but have reduced that 94% and it'll be reduced to 4 tonnes (maybe with the new proposal).

[hollywoodnorth]

Originally Posted by jollyburger

The chlorine plant was built in 1957.

This is what the area looked like in 1946

https://vintageairphotos.com/bo-46-129/

1956 (pretty far away so not much detail)

https://vintageairphotos.com/bo-56-395/

They used to have 1600 tonnes of liquid chlorine stored on site but have reduced that 94% and it'll be reduced to 4 tonnes (maybe with the new proposal).

Close
Website Closure

Hello, it is with a heavy heart that I have to announce the upcoming shutdown of Vintage Air Photos. My hosting provider has increased rates for storage and the very large images this website uses now cost more in a month than the website makes per year. I will try to keep the website up for several more weeks but I imagine Vintage Air Photos will go offline mid-October. If there are any images you would like to keep viewing, now would probably be a good time to make a purchase. Thanks for all the views over the years.


...............

damn that sucks! that site is great

[osirisboy]

I’ve been seeing that message for a couple of years I think

[kikin]

looks like a site that could be sold intact to someone that wants to continue with it and maybe explore better ways to monetize it

[whatnext]

Several Metro Vancouver communities in the first tranche to lose door-to-door mail service later this year:

Abbotsford, B.C.: V2S, V2T.
Mission, B.C.:V2V
North Vancouver and West Vancouver: V7M, V7P, V7R, V7S, V7T, V7V, V7W.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-post-community-mailboxes-door-to-door-delivery-9.7167047

[jollyburger]

University Canada West lays off 240 staff and faculty, citing crippling international student enrolment caps

An associate professor who taught at the private, for-profit university’s Yaletown campus, and who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he logged into his work email on April 8 to find a notice from the institution’s human resources department telling him his job had been terminated without cause.

“UCW has relieved you of all work duties effective immediately. You are not required to perform any further tasks for the university,” reads the notice seen by Postmedia.

https://vancouversun.com/news/university...ing-international-student-enrolment-caps

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by jollyburger

https://vancouversun.com/news/university...ing-international-student-enrolment-caps

I wonder what this means for the University of Canada West Express aka the #23.

[whatnext]

Flagship TED talks are leaving Vancouver after eleven years and heading to San Diego:

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/ted-conference-vancouver-ends-san-diego-relocation

[hollywoodnorth]

Originally Posted by whatnext

Flagship TED talks are leaving Vancouver after eleven years and heading to San Diego:

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/ted-conference-vancouver-ends-san-diego-relocation

That's great news for the conference itself. Vancouver is an extremely poor choice to run something like that, with extremely limited hotel stock and expensive per-night averages. It's definitely not a good convention city anymore

[Changing City]

Originally Posted by hollywoodnorth

That's great news for the conference itself. Vancouver is an extremely poor choice to run something like that, with extremely limited hotel stock and expensive per-night averages. It's definitely not a good convention city anymore

If you read the story you'll see there's a new conference moved from Toronto that has far more delegates. TED's 2,000 attendees isn't that great compared to many other events held at the convention centre.

Revenue and attendee numbers for the convention centre were higher in 2024/25 than in 2023/24, and more than in 2019/20.

In 2024 San Diego has an average hotel occupancy of 76% and $220 per night ($300 CAD) Vancouver was at 78%, and $285 per night - so San Diego was more expensive when TED decided to move there.

Now San Diego is a little cheaper because demand is softening - occupancy was down to 74% in 2025, and 72.5% on an annual basis in February 2026.